


Walking on the Moon

by msraven



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-10
Updated: 2012-12-10
Packaged: 2017-11-19 14:36:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/574320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msraven/pseuds/msraven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’re sending me to Antarctica three days before Christmas,” Phil says evenly and it’s a battle not to change his inflection into the incredulous question the statement deserves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walking on the Moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Arabwel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arabwel/gifts).



> **Happy Birthday Ara!**
> 
> _Title courtesy of Sting_
> 
> For Feelstide Prompt #21: Someone gets sent on a mission during Christmas... and finds random presents with whatever is in the safehouse.
> 
> Happy Feelstide!

"Antarctica," Phil repeats. "You're sending me to Antarctica."

"That is where Project Omne is based,” replies Fury. 

“You’re sending me to Antarctica three days before Christmas,” Phil says evenly and it’s a battle not to change his inflection into the incredulous question the statement deserves.

Fury glances over to his monitor as if checking the date and then looks back at Phil.

“Is this a problem, Agent Coulson?”

 _Yes, it’s a big problem!_ , Phil wants to scream. He wouldn’t put it past Fury for this to be a test. They had assured the director that their relationship, their marriage, wouldn’t impact SHIELD, but this seems unnecessarily cruel. Clint _loves_ Christmas and celebrates the holiday with an enthusiasm that is in utter defiance of his history. Phil knows how important it is to Clint for them to share their first Christmas together as an official family.

“What’s critical about my making the visit this week?” Phil asks instead.

“They’ve made a breakthrough - something to do with genetics - and I need your assessment on the viability of the entire expedition before the end of the year to secure additional funding.”

Phil wants to sigh, but reins it in. He can already imagine the disappointment on Clint’s face when Phil tells him the news.

“We have a Quinjet ready to take you and Dr. McKay to McMurdo. Logistics is already prepping your cold weather gear. Wheels up in two hours,” Fury adds and Phil can’t keep himself from gaping a little.

“You’re sending me to Antarctica the week before Christmas and I don’t even get to go home first?!” Phil asks.

“All your necessary gear is here,” Fury responds. “I don’t see a reason for additional delay.”

“Do I least get time for a phone call?” Phil can’t help but add.

“Even prisoners get a phone call,” Fury says dryly. 

Phil clenches his jaw to hold back a response. He decides it’s best for his career to avoid further comment and quickly leaves the director’s office. It’s not until he’s safely behind the locked door of his own office that Phil lets his shoulders slump. He dials Clint’s number, knowing he doesn’t have much time to postpone the inevitable.

“Ho-ho-ho! Mrs. Coulson speaking.” 

Phil can’t keep a smile from blooming at the sound of his husband’s voice. Then the whole situation comes crashing back and he can’t make himself return the happy greeting.

“Where’s Fury sending you?” Clint asks after moment, all trace of levity gone from his voice. 

“Antarctica,” Phil says, finally letting out the sigh he’s been holding in. “I’m sorry...”

“Project Omne?”

“You’re not supposed to know about that,” Phil not-answers.

“When?” Clint asks, easily ignoring the minor reprimand.

“Wheels up in two hours. I need to head down to logistics and grab my cold weather gear in a minute. I’m sorry, I know...”

“I’ll make sure to save some goodies for when you come back,” Clint says, speaking over Phil’s second attempt at an apology. “I know you’ve been looking forward to my shortbread cookies, so I won’t let Steve and Thor eat them all.”

“Clint...” Phil tries again.

“Hey, it’s okay. We knew the chances were slim anyway,” Clint says softly and Phil wonders how this conversation turned into Clint comforting _him_. “We’ll celebrate when you get back. The date on the calendar doesn’t matter as much as the event.”

“I love you,” is all Phil can really say in response.

“Of course you do,” Clint responds with a smile back in his voice. “Go scare some scientists. I’ll see you when you get home.”

Phil carries the warmth of Clint’s voice with him through the trip down to logistics and the first half of the flight to McMurdo. But good thoughts can only carry him so far and, three hours into the flight, Phil is carefully plotting a way to fill Fury’s entire office with coal. It takes every last ounce of Phil’s professionalism to sit quietly through the scientist’s incessant chatter. By the time they reach McMurdo, Phil is very thankful for the Quinjet’s speed and McKay’s aversion to small aircraft. He gratefully accepts Maj. Sheppard’s offer for a ride to the research station and is soon sitting in the relative quiet of a helicopter flying over miles of snow. 

It’s late when the helicopter arrives at the research station, but the area is still blanketed in bright sunlight as is common for this time of year. Phil hands his gear bag over to the waiting staff, but waves off their offer to show him the cabin/module reserved for SHIELD. He thanks the Major for the ride, getting a knowing smirk and a reminder that it’s a three hour drive from McMurdo in response. Phil nods in acknowledgement and heads quickly over to the main research module in search of Dr. Weir. 

Two hours in, Phil admits to himself that it will take at least two full days for him to do a proper assessment of Project Omne’s progress. Weir is incredibly organized, but there’s months of research to go over. He’s definitely not making it home in time for Christmas. Phil drags himself out of the research module and trudges through the snow toward the SHIELD-designated cabin. Phil glances around as he walks and thinks it fitting that everything looks like it should be on the surface of the moon. It’s about how far away he feels from Clint right now.

Phil is feeling every one of the thirty hours he’s been awake by the time he lets himself into the cabin. He is ready to throw himself on the nearest horizontal surface when something catches the corner of his eye. Sitting on the kitchen counter is a brightly wrapped Christmas present. The red wrapping and large green bow look unnaturally bright in the muted light of the cabin.

Curiosity gets the better of him and Phil makes quick work of the festive wrapping. He opens the box to find a cannister of Godiva Hot Cocoa mix. The extravagant brand comes the closest to matching Clint’s homemade version and has been gifted to Phil every year since becoming Hawkeye’s handler. There’s a large part of Phil that wants to know just how Clint managed to get the gift to this cabin in the middle of Antarctica, but he tamps it down and decides to enjoy the feeling of home the gift brings instead.

There is fresh milk in the small refrigerator and Phil makes a mental note to thank Dr. Weir for preparing the cabin for his arrival. He starts the milk heating on the single burner in the corner of the tiny kitchenette and looks around for a mug. Not finding anything on the counters, Phil opens a cupboard and bursts out in helpless laughter. Sitting on the shelf with a large red bow stuck proudly on its handle is a mug proclaiming "My husband can beat up your husband!" complete with a silhouette of a suited man kicking another in the face. 

The present don’t stop there. Phil finds a long, thin box hidden under the pillow, two smaller boxes in the bathroom, and a much smaller box hidden in his gear bag. Just looking at the brightly wrapped packages lifts Phil’s spirits and he piles them on the small table, fighting the childish urge to open them all now. It makes sitting through two days of enthusiastic scientific briefings a little more bearable. 

It's unsurprising that the scientists work through most of Christmas Day, but they break early for dinner with only some minor prodding from Dr. Beckett. Phil drops some large hints about his approval of SHIELD funding and gives them a little something more to celebrate. He makes his escape from the party pretty quickly, feeling too homesick to fake his way through their festivities. 

Phil walks slowly through the snow, sounds from the party fading behind him, and wonders if a call to the Tower would be considered misappropriation of SHIELD equipment. He lets himself into his cabin with a sigh, eyes automatically cutting toward his small pile of presents on the table. What he sees instead, is a miniature Christmas tree twinkling happily in the center of table and surrounded by a larger pile of gifts. 

"Merry Christmas," says a familiar voice behind him and Phil whirls around to face his husband. His husband, who is standing two feet away wearing one his well-worn flannel shirts that Phil's fingers itch to touch, instead of being thousands of miles away in New York.

The myriad of protocols that Clint has just broken to be here flies through Phil’s head. He opens his mouth to speak, but everything dissolves in the face of Clint being _here_.

“I live with Thor and Tony Stark. There was no way you were going to spend Christmas alone,” Clint says with no remorse. His lips curl into a slow smile that makes Phil’s stomach flutter in anticipation. “Besides, Fury should know better than to make one of my poker buddies a general.”

 _He really should_ , Phil thinks and gives up the ghost. He makes an undignified little leap into Clint’s arms, who catches him easily, and crushes their mouths together. 

It’s during the last minutes of Christmas night that Phil finally opens the gifts Clint had smuggled into the cabin. He reveals a silk blue tie the exact shade of the one Phil had tied around Clint’s bloody leg during his recruitment into SHIELD, a bottle of the aftershave the mark had worn and Phil had complimented from their first undercover op together, a discontinued pair of sunglasses to replace the ones that had been destroyed in New Mexico, and a pair of platinum cufflinks Phil had spied in a window during a walk that had turned into their first date. Phil looks at the collection of gifts around him and laughs. Clint only shrugs and snuggles a little deeper into Phil on the too-small bed. 

Clint has, in four small gifts, given Phil their life together. The gifts are a testament to a simple truth: a life with Clint will always be filled with astonishing, often frustrating, surprises and Phil wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Merry Christmas, Clint,” Phil says warmly.

“Merry Christmas, Mrs. Barton.”

fin

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, there is a minor crossover/fusion. I couldn't resist once I'd decided Fury was sending Phil to Antarctica. :)
> 
> An example of some research station buildings [here](http://www.aecom.com/deployedfiles/Internet/Capabilities/Building%20Engineering/Images/halley_second_construction_season_mainimg.jpg)
> 
> Addt'l note: My intended usage for "give up the ghost" was _to stop trying to do something because you know that you will not succeed_ , which is how I've heard it used and not the reference to dying/death, which is more common. Sorry if I confused anyone.


End file.
